The oxidizing agents present in blonding agents are capable of lightening the hair fiber by oxidatively destroying melanin, the hair's own pigment. For a moderate blonding effect, it is sufficient to use hydrogen peroxide—optionally with the use of ammonia or other alkalizing agents—as the only oxidizing agent; to achieve a stronger blonding effect, a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and peroxodisulfate salts and/or peroxomonosulfate salts is typically used.
For stability reasons, commercially available blonding agents are customarily offered in two preparations that are packaged separately from each other and mixed immediately before use to form a completely mixed application preparation. Commercially available blonding agents are usually composed of a liquid oxidizing agent preparation and a powder that includes solid oxidizing agents. Products comprising additional components are likewise offered commercially.
Monitoring the lightening process on the fiber is an important aspect in the use of blonding agents. The hairdresser usually checks the decolorizing process at least once during the exposure time. Commercially available blonding agents are generally white to colored, turbid gels or emulsions in the ready-to-use state. When using these blonding agents, it is necessary to remove the agent in one or multiple regions of the fibers during the exposure time to check the decolorizing process. The customer is thus able to assess the progress of the color change. If necessary, the application mixture can subsequently be re-applied to the corresponding locations on the fiber to continue the lightening process. The procedure may have to be repeated for further monitoring, if necessary. The use of transparent application mixtures considerably simplifies this monitoring step. It is not necessary to remove the blonding agent from the fiber. Instead, the transparency of the application mixture allows direct, visual assessment of the decoloring process at any point during the exposure time. The provision of transparent blonding agents consequently results in improved handling of the blonding agent and in simplified use.
DE 10 2007 041 490 A1 discloses blonding agents that allow the progress of the lightening process to be observed without labor-intensive steps and without the risk of impairing the blonding result.
WO 2005/067874 A1 describes blonding agents comprising a mixture composed of an oxidizing agent, at least one stabilizer, at least one polymer thickener made of synthetic polymers and alkali magnesium silicates, and water or an aqueous solvent. According to this invention, “transparency” and a “thickened consistency” are described as desirable properties of the agent.
DE 10 2010 042 252 A1 discloses agents for lightening keratinic fibers, comprising at least two preparations (A) and (B) packaged separately from each other, and optionally a further preparation (C) packaged separately from (A) and (B), which are mixed immediately before use to form an application mixture, wherein preparations (A) contain at least one persulfate and preparations (B) are flowable and contain at least one oxidizing agent, and wherein preparations (A) and/or preparations (C) moreover contain at least one natural polymer.
The oxidative treatment of keratinic fibers not only creates the desired lightening result, but also poses a burden on the fibers and, in the worst case, may damage the fiber structure. So as to minimize these negative effects, conventional, non-transparent blonding agents not according to the invention include care substances, which have repairing and conditioning effects. However, many of the customarily used care substances result in a considerable loss or in a considerable impairment of transparency in transparent blonding agents, which negates the advantage of using these agents. Other care substances weaken the blonding performance, so that use of the same is not indicated.
It was the object of the present invention to improve the properties of transparent blonding agents with respect to the care properties, without impairing the performance or the transparency of the same.
It has been shown that oxidizing agent preparations thickened with a natural polymer can be mixed with blonding powders to form a flowable preparation, which allows good homogenization of the two components to yield a ready-to-use application mixture. In this special matrix, certain proteins in combination with/without silicone oil result in permanent care effects, without impairing transparency. Moreover, the blonding performance is enhanced.
Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.